Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (nicknamed Farmajo) on Saturday signed into law a new, tough anti-corruption bill. The long-awaited bill is aimed at tackling graft in the country which is reportedly one of the most corrupt in the world.

According to a presidential statement, the new Anti-Corruption Commissions Establishment Act “paves way for the formation of Federal and State levels Anti-corruption bodies.” This means independent anti-corruption commissions can now be created at both federal and regional tiers of government in the fight against corruption.

Like in most African societies, corruption is rife in Somalia, which is often judged to be the most corrupt country in the world. The Horn of African nation has been ranked bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index every year since 2006, performing worse than Yemen, South Sudan, and Syria.

With corruption occurring at all levels in the public sector, Somalia also ranks last out of the 54 countries with a score of 11.6 out of 100 in terms of overall governance according to the 2017 Ibrahim Index of African Governance by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Out of the 200 countries measured by Trace International for its Bribery Risk Index for 2017, Somalia comes in at the last place once again, with an overall risk score of 88. The same applies to the World Bank Doing Business 2018 rank for Somalia, it is judged the worst performing of the 190 countries assessed.

The atrocious scores in these international indices are reflective in the citizens’ living standard. Half of the country’s population of about 12 million lives below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day, according to data from the World Bank.

Corruption affects virtually every aspect of Somali society. “Corruption is worse than cancer because cancer only kills individuals when corruption kills society as a whole,” the president said in the statement.

The Somali government is now banking on the new law to help tackle graft in the country which is also thwarting rebuilding efforts after decades of economic chaos, civil war, and Islamist insurgency. The government is also hoping to take advantage of the improving environment to block the graft channels, especially among public officials.

While giving reference to the effects of the corruption pandemic to the country’s governance and growth, President Farmajo termed the bill as a major step in the fight against graft since it allows for the formation of anti-corruption committees whose mandate would be to spearhead the prevention and control of corruption.

This law will “protect our economy and also end all damages the corruption has made in our country,” said the president, who had put the fight against corruption at the heart of his election campaign in 2017.

Somali authorities are also looking to leverage the law in improving their image and gaining the confidence of international donors – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank – in order to obtain debt relief for Somalia.

For his part, Finance Minister Abdirahman Beyle described the anti-corruption bill signing as “historic” for Somalia. “The signing of (the) anti-corruption bill is historic for Somalia and we are committed to transparency and accountability,” Beyle said in a statement posted on Twitter.

As significant and “historic” as the new law is, however, the mere existence of good policies does not automatically result in successful implementation. Moreover, formulation and implementation of public policy is one thing, sustaining and maintaining the policy is another. This is a topmost challenge in the long run.

After assenting to the bill, President Farmajo has said that the formation of an Independent Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is the government’s “top priority.”